Insulating glazing units, such as double pane and triple pane insulating glass units, are commonly used in windows and doors. The insulating glazing units generally have a series of transparent panes separated by gas spaces. For example, a double pane insulating glass unit may have two glass panes separated by a gas space. In order to hold the glass panes apart to provide the gas space, a spacer is inserted between the two glass panes. The spacer can both hold the glass panes apart from one another and also hermetically seal the gas space created between the panes. The hermetically sealed gas space can be filled with an insulative gas or evacuated to create a vacuum environment, reducing thermal transfer across the gas space and, ultimately, the entire insulating glazing unit.
For commercial manufacturers of insulating glazing units, the ability to efficiently and accurately fabricate multiple-pane insulating glazing units can dictate the economics of operation and the reliability of the fabricated multiple-pane insulating glazing units over their intended service life. For example, ensuring that a spacer is accurately positioned and sealed between two opposing glazing panes and that the between-pane space is appropriately filled with insulative gas can help ensure the multiple-pane insulating glazing unit maintains its thermal efficiency and visible appearance over the service life of the unit.
As consumers have increasingly demanded more custom sized and shaped insulating glazing units to fit their desired architectural plans, manufacturers have been challenged to efficiently produce a wide variety of different multiple-pane insulating glazing units while maintaining tolerance standards. Oftentimes, this has required adding additional insulating glazing unit production lines to accommodate the reduced throughput attendant to producing custom units.